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The Unpardonable

By Chris Suellentrop June 7, 2007 9:39 amJune 7, 2007 9:39 am

Free Scooter! But don’t pardon him. William Otis, special counsel for President George H.W. Bush and a former federal prosecutor, thinks Scooter Libby’s lies were too damaging to the “fundamental rule of law that the grand jury is entitled to every man’s evidence” for Libby to merit a full pardon from the current President Bush.

Instead, Otis writes on the op-ed page of The Washington Post, “President Bush should commute the sentence by eliminating the jail term while preserving the fine.” He adds, “Unlike a pardon, commuting the prison sentence would not erase the conviction. It would leave Libby with the disabilities of a convicted felon — no small matter for a lawyer and public figure.”

Bush has been more sparing in his exercise of the constitutional pardon power than any president in the last 100 years, including his father. He has pardoned only 113 people in more than six years in office and denied more than 1,000 pardon applications. He has granted only three of more than 5,000 requests for sentence reduction from federal prisoners. Many hundreds of applications remain to be acted on.

By contrast, six years into his presidency, President Reagan had pardoned more than 300 people and commuted 13 sentences — and that was at a time when federal prisoners could still hope for parole. Going further back, President Nixon issued 863 pardons and 60 commutations; President Ford issued 382 pardons and 22 commutations; President Carter issued 534 pardons and 29 commutations.

Bush’s pardons have not only been few in number, but they have been remarkably unremarkable. Not one of his grants has been even remotely controversial, an amazing accomplishment at a time when every presidential action is subject to intense scrutiny and may be used as fodder for partisan advantage.

For a president who has been willing to stretch his other constitutional powers to the limit and beyond, Bush has proved strangely hesitant to exercise the one power that is unquestionably his alone.

Pardoning Scooter would be unconscionable; it would show the true arrogance of this administration. What bothers me even more is that we never really got to the bottom of this matter. If a Democratic president were involved in this, the GOP would be all over him (or her).
This is not a land deal or anything that miniscule here folks; this dealt with an arrogant and blatant abuse of power.

President Bush will pardon Scooter Libby because he wants to seal his lips. If Libby goes to jail he will undoubtedly spend his days writing a tell-all book exposing the inner workings of the White House during these six shameful years of corruption and incompetence. If Bush pardons Libby there will be a deal to keep his thoughts to himself, which as a loyal Bushie, he will. The conflict of interest here is inescapable. Bush cannot take the risk that one of his closest advisors might spill the beans about the president’s role in deceiving America and the world. Scooter Libby will not serve a single day in prison, despite his obstruction of justice and perjury conviction.

The cynic in me can’t help but wonder if a part of the deal with Scooter for taking the rap would be a pardon in January19, 2009, when there wouldn’t be any political consequences. Rove and Cheney are safe. All Bush has to worry about is the library whatever century his papers get declassified and the missing e-mails are found. All will have a home, along with the presidential coloring books. Scooter will be pardoned before the war in Iraq is over, and by dragging out the appeals process, he won’t have to play drop the soap with a bunch of lonely convicts. I wouldn’t want to be prison bound with a nickname like Scooter.